Introduction

state of India. Covering an area of 38,202 square miles (99,200 square km), it is bounded by Nepal to the north and by the Indian states of West Bengal to the northeast and Uttar Pradesh to the west. In November 2000 the new state of Jharkhandwith an area of 28,832 square miles (74,677 square km) and a provisional capital at Rnchwas created from Bihr's southern provinces and now forms the state's southern and southeastern borders. The capital of Bihr is Patna. Bihr occupied an important position in the early history of India; for centuries it was the principal seat of imperial powers and the main focus of Indian culture and civilization. The derivation of the name Bihr from the Sanskrit vihra (Buddhist monastery) reflects the presence of numerous such communities in the region in ancient times.

Physical and human geography

The land Relief and drainage

The state is naturally divided into two physiographic regionsthe middle plains of the Ganges (Ganga) River in the north and the Chota Ngpur Plateau in the south, the latter a part of the Deccan Plateau that occupies most of peninsular India. The plains districts are popularly known as Bihr proper, and the plateau districts as Chota Ngpur. Bihr proper is further divided into two parts by the Ganges, and it is customary to call these North Bihr and South Bihr. This designation of the central portion of Bihr as South Bihr is somewhat misleading but has the sanction of usage. Except for the Himalayan foothills in the extreme northwest, the north Gangetic Plain forms a flat alluvial country, less than 250 feet (75 metres) above sea level and prone to flooding. The Ghghara, the Gandak, the Bghmati, the Kosi, the Mahnanda, and other rivers flow down from the Nepal Himalayas and make their way to the Ganges in frequently changing channels. Depressions and lakes mark the abandoned courses of streams. The Kosi River, long known as the Sorrow of Bihr for its tendency to cause destructive floods, is now confined within artificial embankments. The soil of the northern plain consists mostly of new alluviumchalky and light-textured (mostly sandy loam) west of the Burhi (Old) Gandak River and nonchalky and heavy-textured (clay and clay loam) to the east. Another natural hazardseismic activityalso affects this area, which lies within the Himalayan earthquake zone. The earthquakes of 1934 and 1988 were especially severe and caused widespread devastation and loss of life. The south Gangetic Plain is more diversified than the north, and many hills rise from the level alluvium. The rivers, with the exception of the Son, are all small; their water is diverted into

irrigation channels. The soil consists mainly of older alluvium, composed of a darkish clay or yellowish loam, with poor, sandy soils predominating toward the south of this region. The Chota Ngpur Plateau, a series of plateaus, hills, and valleys, covers the southern half of Bihr and consists mostly of crystalline rocks. The main plateaus, Hazrbg and Rnchi, are separated by the faulted, sedimentary coal-bearing basin of the Dmodar River, and they average about 2,000 feet (600 metres) in height. In the west there are more than 300 dissected but flattopped plateaus over 3,000 feet (900 metres) high, known as pats. The highest point in Bihr is formed by the conical granite peak of Parasnth4,477 feet (1,365 metres) highin Hazrbg; it is sacred to both the Jaina religion and the Santhl tribe. In the extreme northwest, beyond the Son Valley, lies the Kaimur Plateau, with horizontal sandstone strata underlain by limestone. In the Dmodar valley the soil is sandy; the typical soil of the plateau is red soil.

Climate

There are three well-defined seasons: the hot-weather season, lasting from March to mid-June; the season of southwest monsoon rains, from mid-June to October; and the cold-weather season, from November to February. May is the hottest month, with the mean temperature exceeding 90 F (32 C), except in the extreme north and the plateaus of Rnchi and Hazrbg. (Because of its agreeable climate, Rnchi city has historically served as Bihr's summer capital.) The normal annual rainfall varies from 40 inches (1,016 mm) in the west-central part to more than 60 inches (1,524 mm) in the extreme north and in the southwest. The rainfall on the plateaumore than 50 inches (1,270 mm)is heavier than on the plains. Nearly all the rain (8590 percent) falls between June and October, and nearly 50 percent of the annual rain falls in July and August. The cold-weather season is the pleasantest part of the year.

Plant and animal life

The natural vegetation is deciduous forest, but less than one-fifth of the total area is forested. Most forests occur in the Himalayan foothills and on the Chota Ngpur Plateau; those of the plain have largely been removed in order to bring the land under the plow. In the Himalayan foothills, valuable sal (a resin-yielding species) is found, and bamboo, reeds, and grass are widespread. Chota Ngpur forms a rich sal area; other timbers include some that are used for the production of lac (a resinous substance used to make varnishes), while tussah silkworms (Antherea pernyi) are fed on the leaves of the asan tree (Terminalia tomentosa). Mahua (an East Indian tree) yields sweet, edible flowers, also used in the distillation of liquor. Bamboo and sabai (a valuable Indian fibre grass also known as bhabar) of Chota Ngpur supply raw materials for paper manufacture. Common trees of the plain are the banyan, pipal, and palmyra palm. The Hazrbgh Wildlife Sanctuary is noted for its Bengal tigers. These endangered animals, along with leopards, elephants, and bears, inhabit only the more inaccessible forests. The small mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish comprise species common throughout peninsular India.

The people

Nearly three-fourths of the population of Bihr is concentrated in the cultivated plains. The harnessing of the Kosi River has stabilized settlement in its valley. On the South Bihr Plain, a highly developed system of irrigation supports a large population. Density declines toward the south. Settlement in Chota Ngpur is confined largely to river valleys, deforested peneplains (areas reduced almost to plains by erosion), and mineral and industrial belts. The great majority of the people live in villages. Compact or clustered villages are usually found in the plains, while dispersed rural settlements are characteristic of the plateau. Aboriginal tribes are concentrated in Chota Ngpur, especially in the districts of Rnchi, Singhbhm, and Santhl Pargana. Santhl, Oraon, Mu, and Ho are the principal tribes and together constitute fourfifths of the total tribal population. With only about 13 percent of its population classified as urban, Bihr is one of the most rural states in India. The major cities are Patna, Gaya, Bhgalpur, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Rnchi, Monghyr, Bihr Sharf, and Jamshedpur; and the major town groups are Dhnbd-Jharia-Sindri and Bokro and Chs. Hindus constitute about 83 percent and Muslims some 14 percent of the population. Christianity and animism are largely confined to Chota Ngpur. Most Muslims live in North Bihr, particularly in Prnia in the northeast. The Hindu population comprises the elite upper castes (Brahmans, Bhmihrs, Rjpts, and Kyasthas), the so-called backward castes (Ydavas, Kurms, and Banias), constituting the less advantaged majority, and the Scheduled Castes (formerly untouchables; Chmrs or Mochs, Dusadhs, and Mushars). Of the tribal population (outside the caste hierarchy), most are Hindus, a few are Christians, and many adhere to animism. The Ho is the only tribe in which the majority follow animism; Khai is the only tribe in which the majority are Christians. Christianity is significant among the Mus and Oraons. Indo-European languagesincluding Hindi, Urdu (primarily the language of Muslims), and the dialects of Bhojpur, Maithil, and Magahare spoken by most of the population. Bhojpur is spoken in the western districts of Bhojpur, Rohts, Sran, and East and West Champran; Maithil, in Darbhanga and Saharsa; and Magah, in Patna, Gaya, and Monghyr. Austro-Asiatic (Muar, Santhl, Ho) and Dravidian (Oraon) languages are confined to the aboriginal tribes.

The economy

Agriculture engages some 75 percent of Bihr's population. Despite significant gains in mining and manufacturing in the late 20th century, the state ranked last in the country in per capita income. Almost half of its people were considered by the government to be below the poverty level.

Agriculture

About half the area is under cultivation, but pressure of population has pushed cultivation to the furthest limits, and little remains to be developed. The transitional nature of the climatic zone is reflected in the cropping pattern, which shows a mixture of wet and dry crops. Rice is everywhere the dominant crop, but corn (maize), wheat, barley, gram, oilseeds, and pulses (legumes) are important supplementary crops. Sugarcane is grown in a fairly well-defined belt in the northwest. Jute, a crop of the hot, moist lowlands, is found only in the easternmost plain districts. There are three harvests in a year: bhadai, dominated by corn that is sown from May to June and gathered in Bhado (August to September); aghani, consisting primarily of rice sown in mid-June and gathered in the month of Aghan (December); and rab, made up largely of wheat that ripens in the plains in spring. Fruits and vegetables are extensively grown. Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga are particularly noted for mangoes, bananas, and litchi fruits. Vegetables are important in the vicinity of large towns. The potato-growing area near Bihr Sharf, in Patna district, produces the best variety of seed potato in India. Chilies and tobacco are important cash crops on the banks of the Ganges.

Mining

The Chota Ngpur Plateau is the richest mineral belt in India, and Bihr produces more than a third (by value) of all the minerals extracted in the country. Bihr produces almost the entire national output of copper, kyanite (an alumina-silica mineral used in the manufacture of heatresistant porcelain), pyrite (an iron disulfide mineral used in the manufacture of sulfuric acid), and phosphate and much of the output of bauxite (a source of aluminum), mica, coal, kaolin (china clay), fireclay, and iron ore. Coal accounts for most of Bihr's mineral production. The principal coalfields, all in the Dmodar River valley, supply nearly all the coking coal of India. Singhbhm, together with districts in adjoining Orissa state, contains one of the world's richest hematite iron ore deposits. Copper is mined and smelted near Ghtsla, in the Singhbhm district. Singhbhm is also important for kyanite, manganese, chromite, apatite (rock phosphate, a source of fertilizer), and uranium.

Industry

Despite rich mineral resources, Bihr has been slow to develop industry. A number of Industrial Area Development authorities have been set up by the state government to boost the pace of development. Most industrial workers are employed in household industries; the rest are employed in steel and other metal-based and food-processing industries. Rnchi, Bokro, and Jamshedpur rank among the largest industrial complexes in India.

Regional industrial distribution shows heavy concentration in the two plateau districts of Singhbhm and Dhnbd. It is, however, possible to recognize several significant zones of economic development. Singhbhm, the richest mineral-bearing district, is important for heavy industries. Jamshedpur, the seat of ironworks and steelworks, has also attracted a number of satellite engineering industries. Copper is smelted at Moubhandar near Ghtsla. Chbsa manufactures cement from Jamshedpur slag, and there is sheet-glass manufacturing at Kndra. Other industrial centres include Rnchi (heavy machinery), Dlmianagar (paper, cement, chemicals), Barauni (petrochemicals), and Patna (light manufacturing). Among the agriculturally based industries are sugar refining, tobacco processing, silk production, and jute milling. Traditional small-scale cottage industries are popular in Bihr; they include sericulture (tussah silk), lac and glass work, handloom products, brassware, handicrafts, and pottery. Madhubani paintings, depictions of mythological stories on cloth, have become a foreign-exchange item. The Dmodar Valley Corporation (DVC) is the most prominent multipurpose project of Bihr; four hydroelectric dams forming a series of reservoirs have been constructed under the DVC at Tilaiya, Maithon, Konr, and Panchet Hill. These have been supplemented by other hydroelectric projects and by thermal power stations, but the state has a chronic power shortage.

Transportation

The waterways, once important, are now of little significance. Although all-weather roads reach only a few more than one-third of Bihr's villages, several national highways pass through the state, including the venerable Grand Trunk Road. Road service is best around Patna and Gaya and on the Chota Ngpur Plateau, where Allied operations during World War II brought many improvements. The Kolkata (Calcutta)Delhi rail line, which crosses Bihr, opened in 1864. Because of the dense population, the railways carry a heavy load of traffic. They run parallel with the rivers because of the difficulty of constructing bridges, and travel between important towns is consequently often long and tedious. Regularly scheduled airlines serve both Patna and Rnchi.

Administration and social conditions Government

Bihr has a bicameral legislature consisting of the upper-house Legislative Council (Vidhn Parishad), and the lower-house Legislative Assembly (Vidhn Sabh). Appointed by the president of India, the governor is the head of the state and functions on the advice of the chief minister, who is the head of the council of ministers. The bureaucratic hierarchy located in the Patna secretariat is headed by a chief secretary. The state is divided into seven administrative divisions and 39 districts. Local administration is the responsibility of a divisional commissioner in each of the divisions, a district magistrate and

collector in each of the districts, and a subdivisional officer in each of the 76 subdivisions. There is a separate administration for development. The police administration is headed by an inspector general, assisted by superintendents at the district level. There is a high court at Patna, with a chief justice and several other judges. Below the high court are district courts, subdivisional courts, munsifs' (subordinate judicial officers') courts, and village councils.

Education

Although the literacy rate has nearly tripled in the second half of the 20th century to about onethird of the state's population, Bihr still ranks low in literacy among Indian states. The rate for males is significantly higher than that for females. The state's general aim is to educate all children at least up to the age of 14. About 90 percent of those eligible are enrolled in the primary schools, but only a small proportion reach the secondary level, as economic necessity forces them to work. Vocational and technical schools are sponsored by government departments. Institutions of higher learning in Bihr include: Patna University, the oldest and most important, at Patna; Bihr University, at Muzaffarpur; and Bhgalpur University, at Bhgalpur. The latter two schools offer graduate programs and have a number of affiliated colleges.

Health

Medical facilities, though improving, are still inadequate outside the towns. Villages are served mainly by allopathic (traditional Western) and ancient Indian medical (yurvedic) dispensaries. Unan (traditional Muslim) and homeopathic systems of medicine are also popular. Large and well-equipped hospitals and medical colleges are located at Patna, Darbhanga, Rnchi, Jamshedpur, and Bhgalpur. Respiratory diseases, dysentery, and diarrhea figure prominently among the causes of death. Cholera and malaria seldom occur, and smallpox and bubonic plague have been eradicated. A tuberculosis sanatorium, a mental hospital, and a leprosarium are all located near Rnchi.

Cultural life

The cultural regions of Bihr show a close affinity with the linguistic regions. Maithil is the language of old Mithil (the area of ancient Videha, now Tirhut), which is dominated by orthodoxy and the Brahmanical way of life. Maithil is the only Bihr dialect with a script of its own, called Tirhuta, and a strong literary history; one of the earliest and most celebrated writers of Maithil was Vidypati (15th century), noted for his lyrics of love and devotion.

Bhojpur dialect has hardly any written literature but does have a considerable oral folk literature. Magah, too, has a rich folkloric tradition. The Bihr Plain also has contributed significantly to modern Hindi and Urdu literature. Most tribal villages have a dancing floor, a sacred grove (sarnawhere worship is offered by a village priest), and a bachelor's dormitory (dhumkuria). The ht, or weekly market, plays an important part in tribal economy. Tribal festivals (such as Sarhl), a spring festival (Sohrai), and a winter festival (Mage Parab) are occasions of great festivity. Tribal culture is fast changing under the impact of external influences, such as Christianity, industrialization, new communication links, tribal welfare programs, and community development projects.

Hindu pilgrims bathing and washing at a ghat (stairway) on the Phalgu River in Gaya, Bihr, Places of religious and cultural interest abound in the plains. Nlanda is the seat of the ancient and celebrated Nlanda Buddhist monastic university; nearby Rjgr, with its ancient and modern temples and shrines, is visited by people of many faiths; Pawapuri is the place where Mahvra, the founder of Jainism, attained nirvana (enlightenment, or freedom from an endless cycle of reincarnation). Gaya is an important place of Hindu pilgrimage, and nearby Buddh Gaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment, is Buddhism's holiest place. The holy town of Devghar is well known for its Baidyanth temple. Harharkshetra, near Sonpur, north of Patna, is famous for one of the oldest and largest animal fairs in India, which is held every November. Among the numerous Hindu celebrations held in Bihr, Hol (a colourful spring fertility festival) and Chaat (a tribute to the Sun, primarily by women) are indigenous to the region.

History
In the Early Vedic Period (beginning about 1500 BC) several kingdoms existed in the Bihr plain. North of the Ganges was Videha, one of the kings of which was the father of Princess St, the wife of Lord Rma and the heroine of the Rmyaa, one of the two great Hindu epic poems of India. During the same epoch, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Magadha was Rjagha (modern Rjgr), about 45 miles southeast of Patna; to the east was the kingdom of Aga, with its capital at Camp (near Bhgalpur). A new kingdom later arose in southern Videha, with its

capital at Vail. By about 700 BC, the kingdoms of Vail and Videha were replaced by a confederacy of the Vjjissaid to be the first republican state known in history. It was in Magadha, in the 6th century BC, that Buddha developed his religion and that Mahvra, who was born at Vail, founded the religion of Jainism. In about 475 BC the capital of the Magadha empire was located at Paliputra (modern Patna), where it remained under Aoka (emperor of India from about 273 to 232 BC) and the Guptas (a dynasty of emperors who ruled India in the 4th and 5th centuries AD) until the onslaught of the Has in the middle and late 5th century. In the 6th7th century AD the city was devastated by the migration of the Son River; the Chinese pilgrim Hsan-tsang recorded that in AD 637 the city had few inhabitants. It regained some of its glory, but it is doubtful that it ever served as the capital of the Pla empire (which lasted from about 775 to 1200). During the ensuing Muslim period (about 1200 to 1765), Bihr had little independent history, remaining a provincial unit until 1765, when it came under British rule andtogether with Chota Ngpurwas merged with the state of Bengal. Originally, Chota Ngpur was mostly forest-clad and was ruled by chiefs of various aboriginal tribes. Though British authority was only gradually established in the plains to the north during the second half of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, occasional revolts against them took place in Chota Ngpur, the most important being the Ho revolt of 1820 to 1827 and the Mu uprising of 1831 to 1832. Later, Bihr was an important centre of the Indian mutiny and revolt of 1857 to 1859 against British political authority. Bihr formed a part of the Bengal Presidency until 1912, when the province of Bihr and Orissa was formed; in 1936 the two became separate provinces. Bihr played an active role in the successive phases of Indian nationalism. Mahatma Gandhi, the nationalist leader who advocated nonviolent resistance, first launched the satygraha (devotion to truth) movement against the tyranny of the European indigo planters in the Champran region of northern Bihr. Rajendra Prasad, who played a leading part in the freedom movement and was elected the first president of independent India, was born in the Sran district, northwest of Patna. Upon India's independence in 1947, Bihr became a constituent part (becoming a state in 1950), and in 1948 the small states of Saraikela and Kharswn were merged with it. In 1956, when the Indian states were reorganized on a linguistic basis, a territory of some 3,140 square miles was transferred from Bihr to West Bengal. In 1990, for the first time since independence, a state government was elected from a party other than that controlling the national government.

P. DayalAshok K. DuttAllen G. Noble

Additional Reading
Enayat Ahmad,

Bihar: A Physical, Economic, and Regional Geography (1965), contains sections on population and settlement. Other economic studies include Arvind N. Das, Agrarian Unrest and Socio-economic Change

in Bihar, 19001980 (1983); and Alakh N. Sharma and Shaibal Gupta, Bihar: Stagnation or Growth (1987). R.R. Diwakar (ed.), Bihar Through the Ages (1959), provides an authoritative cultural and political history up to the postindependence period, with introductory chapters on geology and geography. See also Bindeshwari Prasad Sinha (ed.), Comprehensive History of Bihar ); and (1974 Jata Shankar Jha, Early Revolutionary Movement in Bihar (1977). Shree Govind Mishra, History of Bihar, 17401772 (1970), analyzes the period of British ascendancy.